


Artistic Liberties

by toesalignedarch



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Art museum, Gen, M/M, Slice of Life, but all in good fun, making up things as I go because I can, napoleon crossing the alps, some jacques louis david bashing, unabashed use of my art history degree
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:20:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25597162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toesalignedarch/pseuds/toesalignedarch
Summary: "We were there, for a brief moment," Nicky explains. He gazes up at the painting and his eyes take on a distant quality, like he's living hundreds of years in the past. "Not for this painting, no, but we knew Jacques."It's taken Nile a while to get over the fact that her colleagues knew, befriended, evenslept withsome of the biggest names in history, but it never fails to stun her. "You were friends with Jacques-Louis David?TheJacques-Louis David?"(or: Joe is a talented artist, Nicky is a patient teacher, and Nile gets an art history lesson)
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 28
Kudos: 304





	Artistic Liberties

**Author's Note:**

> came across the idea of Joe and Nicky going through history and correcting "ahistorical bullshit" while discussing the Immortal Husbands with a friend, and because I have a degree in art history that I don't use nearly enough, I'm _living_ for the thought that Joe and Nicky were super involved with the art scenes throughout time.
> 
> learn more about the painting mentioned in this fic [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Crossing_the_Alps)!
> 
> more in the end notes about some decisions I made as the author— _artistic liberties_ , if you will ;)

"I must admit, I like the other version better."

"Huh?"

"The other version? The one in the _Château de Malmaison_?" Joe regards her with puzzled eyes. "Surely you've seen it?"

"There are _other versions_?"

He frowns. Almost immediately, Nicky appears out of nowhere, wrapping his arms around Joe's waist.

"What's wrong?" Nicky murmurs, eyeing the two.

"Nile doesn't know there are multiple versions of _Napoleon Crossing the Alps_." Joe points at the giant painting hanging on the wall—the one with Napoleon riding a majestic bucking steed, one commanding finger pointed skyward.

"Ah, Nile," Nicky says not unkindly. "There are, in fact, five of these. Two right here in Versailles."

"Five copies," Nile muses. "Like, perfect copies?"

"The one in _Château de Malmaison_ has a piebald horse, and Napoleon's cloak is golden. In this one"—Joe points at the spots in the painting as he talks—"the horse is a blonde and his cloak is stupid red."

Nicky smiles tenderly at him and winks at Nile. "You know he liked his artistic liberties, my love."

"Bah. We all know Napoleon liked gold better than red."

Nile turns to Nicky as Joe wanders off to a different part of the gallery, muttering to himself about historical inaccuracies and overcompensation. "Artistic liberties?"

"We were there, for a brief moment," Nicky explains. He gazes up at the painting and his eyes take on a distant quality, like he's living hundreds of years in the past. "Not for this painting, no, but we knew Jacques."

It's taken Nile a while to get over the fact that her colleagues knew, befriended, even _slept with_ some of the biggest names in history, but it never fails to stun her. "You were friends with Jacques-Louis David? _The_ Jacques-Louis David?"

Nicky grimaces. "The term 'friends' is very generous. He was a bit pompous, but we liked him enough when he was painting for the French Revolution. Less so when he switched to painting for Napoleon. He became a bit of an asshole, then. Could never really make up his mind for whom or which cause he wanted to paint."

She can only gape at him, awe-struck. "That's... that's..." When no other words come out of her mouth, she can only laugh. "What a small world."

A glint of something unreadable appears in Nicky's eyes and he motions her closer to the painting. "Look, here. You see this man behind the horse's tail? With the _luxurious_ mustache?"

"Are you talking about me again?" Joe materializes beside them out of nowhere and Nile muffles her shriek of surprise in her sleeve. The security guard in the corner glares from behind his tinted glasses, but she ducks her head, her shoulders shaking against Joe's and Nicky's as they all hold back their laughter.

As Nile catches her breath, Joe and Nicky exchange meaningful glances—meaningful for them, not her; she has no idea what it means—but apparently a conversation is had, a decision is made, and that decision involves her.

Joe's expression has turned a bit sulky, but he sticks around as Nicky points to the figure he'd been referencing earlier. "This man," he whispers conspiratorially. "In the original painting, this man was actually someone named Sébastien Lelivre."

"Sébastien Lelivre," Nile repeats slowly. She knows that name from somewhere, and the expectant expressions on her companions' faces confirm that she _should_ know who that is, but she can't quite place it...

"Known jackass," Joe supplies when Nile doesn't get it. "A previous associate, overall _miserable_ company, one son of a _bitch_ —"

He cuts off when Nicky places a palm on Joe's chest, right where his heart is. "That's enough," he says softly.

Then it clicks. " _Booker_?"

Nicky's eyes are bittersweet when he nods. "We're not sure how, exactly, but in the original painting, that's Booker with the saber."

"He was a talented fighter," Joe admits begrudgingly. "Even before he was immortal. He rose through the ranks pretty quickly, in Napoleon's army. Lucky bastard makes officer and gets to show up in Napoleon's portrait, and then is venerated for all eternity."

Nile peers closely at the figure in the painting in front of her. "That's not Booker, though," she notes, examining the prominent nose and sharp, droopy cheekbones of the man in the tricorne hat.

"You'll notice that the face here is much more exposed than in the original. Well, if you ever see the original in person, you'll notice it. We very well couldn't have that; it's too obvious. So, after he"—Nile doesn't miss how Nicky avoids Booker's name, doesn't miss how he glances at his partner, whose face twitches for just a moment—"joined us, we had to do some... well, let's just call it post-production editing."

"So y'all snuck into wherever these were hanging and painted over his face?"

"No, we didn't do that." This time when Nicky looks over at Joe, his face is full of adoration. "Joe did."

"Wow." Regarding the painting once more, she purses her lips, impressed. "You're not bad, Joe. Probably coulda become a famous artist yourself, if it weren't for the whole staying-out-of-the-limelight, immortal thing."

"Don't remind him," Nicky mutters as Joe's expression turns smug.

"Why didn't you paint over the original one?"

Joe grimaces. "It's complicated. The original painting was in Madrid until about 1812, same year Booker died for the first time. By the time we found him, it took him another few years to mention he was featured in a bunch of huge-ass paintings. I got to most of them, but by that time, Napoleon's older brother, Joseph-Napoléon, had taken the original along with him to his exile in the United States."

"Around 1817," Nicky adds helpfully. "We were busy with other things, so Joe never got around to the original."

"You said it's still in France, right? We could go right now," Nile suggests.

Joe sighs and crosses his arms. "It's too late. Too much documentation of the painting. If I tried to fix it now, someone would notice."

Nicky pats him on the back reassuringly and slowly, his posture relaxes. "So," Nicky says into the silence. "Now that we've talked about it for so long, I kind of want to go see it again. Join us, Nile?"

"See the original?"

"Yeah. It's not too far, right, Joe?"

"From Versailles? It's less than a half-hour drive."

Joe and Nicky share a glance, then a shrug. "Well then, let's go."

"Wait," Nile says as they start to walk toward the exit. "What if someone sees us on public transportation, or—"

"Copley can take care of that," Nicky tells her at the same time Joe says, "Nile, don't worry about it."

"I... Alright." Denying herself the opportunity to learn more about art? Nah. She grins and they smile back at her.

"Now come on, let's go see another one of Jacques' shitty paintings!"

**Author's Note:**

> ok hello!! thanks for reading!!
> 
> a fun fact about Jacques-Louis David: he started out painting for the Academy and doing all these idealized, pretentious [history paintings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_painting) (paintings that used historical sources or mythology as inspo, almost always had a moral, and you had to be properly educated (i.e. wealthy/powerful) in order to "get it"), like his _oath of the horatii_ or _death of socrates_. then he switched to support the French Revolution (you may know his _death of marat_ ), and then when the revolution failed he switched to paint for Napoleon. homeboy was a pendulum, until they wouldn't take it anymore and he was exiled. anyway, this isn't the full story but a summary of his career and I just think it's absolutely hilarious that he couldn't make up his mind :') 
> 
> anyway! kudos and comment are always appreciated :)


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